Charter school buys Bishop Byrne; plans to open late summer

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story had an incorrect amount paid for the Bishop Byrne campus.

Influence1 Foundation, which runs City University charter schools here, has purchased Bishop Byrne Middle and High School from the Catholic Diocese of Memphis and will operate its charters at the Whitehaven campus starting July 31.

Influence1 paid $1.1 million for the 13-acre campus at 1475 E. Shelby Drive. The purchase includes the school, gymnasium and ball field. The deal closed Friday.

"We are focused on serving Memphis and preparing our scholars for transition into post-secondary education, and the former Bishop Byrne location will greatly aid in our ability to serve a wider population," said Lemoyne Robinson, Influence1 president and CEO.

The purchase does not include St. Paul the Apostle Church, which is part of the campus.

City University operates two charters in the former Dunn Elementary, 1500 Dunn. Influence1 started City University School of Liberal Arts in 2004, a year after Tennessee passed legislation to allow charter schools. In 2009, Influence1 opened City University School Boys Preparatory, the first all-boys charter in the state in 2009. The combined enrollment is 390 middle and high school students. When school begins in less than six weeks, City will also include an all-girls middle school, with room for 90 sixth-grade girls.

In January, the diocese announced it was closing Bishop Byrne, a fixture among Catholic high schools since 1950. Parents were angry the decision was announced late in the year after other schools were already into registration and that they were not told of the plans.

Bishop Byrne had suffered dwindling enrollment for years. It had about 170 students in grades 7-12, including a senior class of fewer than 35 students.

The diocese hoped the remaining students would transfer to Memphis Catholic Middle and High School in Midtown, where the goal was to increase enrollment from 180 to 300 students.

In order to give Bishop Byrne staff fair chance at jobs at Memphis Catholic, the diocese said the entire staff would have to reapply for their jobs.

Some parents said they felt they were being forced to send their children to Memphis Catholic. They also complained that the diocese would not allow other schools to recruit on its property.

Spokeswoman Suzanne Aviles said Friday she did not know how many Bishop Byrne students or faculty had transferred to Memphis Catholic. "We probably won't have a final count until school actually starts. I know that we've had a variety of staff openings throughout the diocese's Catholic schools. I'm not sure how many of those might have been filled with people coming from Bishop Byrne."

The property generated a buzz among charter school operators for several reasons. The buildings meet public code for school-use and a number of charter companies, including Du Bois Charter School Consortium, run by former Memphis mayor Willie Herenton, are looking for space in Whitehaven.

"I don't know what their goals are, but the citizens of Whitehaven community deserve excellent schools," Herenton said Friday.

Herenton said he will announce Tuesday two sites in Whitehaven where Du Bois will operate charter schools this fall. Du Bois conducted a lottery for the schools this spring after enrollment in each surpassed 200 students.